Barney Ronay on Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel speaks!
Read Jacob Steinberg's player ratings
Read Sid Lowe's match report
Tuchel's assessment
“We started the game very well and very aggressive. We deserved to win the first half. We had a lot of chances and half-chances but missed precision .. We should have scored a minimum of one more goal ... Unfortunately they scored from a setpiece. There was nothing else to defend for us. So it was a bit of a disappointing result at half-time. It was important to stay clam and keep confidence. The second half was a very tactical game. The speed and intensity dropped and you could feel we were a bit tired with only two days since our last game. We have to live with 1-1 and try to win the next game.”
Azpilicueta's verdict
“We started really well. We got the goal. We could have scored more. They came back from a set play and we suffered for a bit. We knew playing a semi-final against Real Madrid was going to be tough ... We knew we had to perform at our best level. We started with courage, we pressed well and recovered the ball a lot of times but we missed that last pass or where we could choose the right option ... The [Chelsea] goal was a great finish with great composure. [Pulisic] is an amazing player. [Real’s] goal was great. [Benzema] is a great striker. We have to beware next Wednesday.”
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Full-time: Real Madrid 1-1 Chelsea
Chelsea will go into the second leg at Stamford Bridge with an important edge thanks to Christian Pulisic’s away goal. They should have scored more, especially in the first half when they were far superior, but they were pegged back by a brilliant goal by Karim Benzema and did not push hard enough in the second half. Overall, Real may feel they got away with one here and will be confident of doing better in the second leg. But Chelsea have got to be the favourites: they were better physically, tactically and technically for most of this match.
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Real substitution: Rodrygo on, Benzema off.
90 min: There will be at least three more minutes.
89 min: Odriozola booked for a cynical foul on Rüdiger, who was galloping down the left wing.
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88 min: Kroos opens fire from 30 yards. Kanté gets a touch on it and swirls a couple of yards wide. From the resulting corner Varane sends tries a plunging header from near the penalty spot. It’s going miles wide until it hits Chilwell, who’s grateful to see it mis the post by a yard.
86 min: Hazard gets a chance to run at Chelsea for the first time. He skedaddles down the right and arrows over a dangerous cross. Rüdiger heads clear.
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84 min: Casemiro does well to get back to take the ball off Ziyech in the area. But Chelsea keep threatening: they want to go home with a lead.
83 min: The irrepressible Kanté dances past three opponents and floats a cross over from the right. It’s headed clear.
81 min: Magnificent tackle by Casemiro on Ziyech. He won the ball and lifted the winger out of it without actually touching him.
79 min: Ziyech curls the ball over the wall and on to the target. But it’s not especially powerful and not near either corner, so Courtois makes a comfortable save.
78 min: Those subs signified a switch to a back four by Real. But before they can reorganise properly, Havertz goes running at them. Varane, slightly panicked, trips him to concede a freekick at the edge of the box, a few yards in from the right-hand corner.
Real substitutions: Asensio and Odriozola on, Marcelo and Carvajal off.
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75 min: A Real corner is cleared to the edge of the area. But that’s where Benzema is, so ‘clear’ is really not the right word. The striker volleys it goalward, but it’s blocked by a thicket of bodies.
73 min: Militao slides in to take the ball off the foot off Ziyech after a lovely one-touch move down the right by Chelsea. Then Militao clears the corner, too. “I was trying to put my finger on why this game felt different,” Parps Norrie Hernon. “Good pace and flow despite being niggly (Hi, Marcelo!)... and absolutely no sign of VAR. This could catch on.”
71 min: Casemiro is swarmed by Chelsea players in midfield and loses the ball. Ziyech scoots down the left, looks up, and sends a teasing pass across the face of goal. It’s agonisingly too long for Havertz.
70 min: Havertz threads the ball through to James near the byline. The wingback curls over a decent cross, but Real defend it well.
68 min: Chelsea’s three new arrivals immediately make a difference as the visitors hog possession for a couple of minutes, seemingly given new impetus.
Chelsea substitutions: Ziyech, Havertz and James on; Pulisic, Werner and Azpilicueta off.
Real substitution: Here comes Hazard. He replaces Vinicius.
65 min: Marcelo gets an overdue booking after chopping down Mount as Chelsea threatened to break.
63 min: Azpilicueta stabs the ball off the foot of Modric as the Croat tried to wriggle his way down the left. Then the defender needs to stretch his leg to avert cramp. That James-Azplicueta switch may happen soon.
61 min: Kanté bounds down the right again until Kross tries to chop him down from behind. A booking for the German and a freekick for Chelsea in a useful crossing position. Mount swings it in, Varane heads it out.
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58 min: Real try to steady themselves with some rhythmic passing, mainly in their own half. It’s enough to slow Chelsea down though.
55 min: Marcelo with another foul, this time on Pulisic. Chelsea again take the freekick short and start probing for a breakthrough. But Real are a tad more solid in this half. There is still, however, a strong sense that they are there for the taking.
53 min: Marcelo, who has floundered defensively today, clips Mount, giving Chelsea a freekick wide on the right. They take it short and circulate the ball. Marcelo’s struggles seem like a good reasons to introduce Reece James, who’s a much better attacking wingback than Azpilicueta.
50 min: Pulisic loses the ball on half-way. Vinicius helps it on quickly to Benzema, who immediately wide on the left. The striker immediately switches it on to his right foot and tries to curl one into the top corner, à la James Maddison at Man City earlier this season. Benzema is no Maddison, as the old saying goes. Miles of target.
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48 min: Chelsea’s pressing forces Real to cough up possession deep in their own territory. Kante nips the ball through to Werner, who fires off a shot from 15 yards, at the right-hand side of the box. But Militao charges over to block it, at the expense of a corner.
47 min: Tuchel is waving his team forward from the sidelines, urging them to take the game to rickety-looking Real as much as possible.
46 min: No substitutions during the break, surprisingly. The weather hasn’t changed either, it’s still raining buckets.
“In 2020 Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig) became the first American to score in the quarter-finals or higher of the Champions League,” recalls Steve Young. “ Today Pulisic became the first American to score in the semis or higher. Which American is going to step up in next year’s final?” Are you suggesting Pulisic won’t do it this year?
Half-time: Real 1-1 Chelsea
It’s been a riveting half. Chelsea have done a a lot of things really well but will probably be miffed not to have a lead. They’ve created enough chances to have scored more than one goal, regularly tearing through a Madrid defend that has at times looked disjointed. But the hosts are level thanks to a brilliant piece of centre-forward play by Benzema, who also created Real’s only other real chance. Since the equaliser Zidane’s team have improved a little and Modric, in particular, has seen a little more of the ball. It’ll be intriguing to see whether either manager - especially Zidane - decides to change anything during the break.
42 min: Pulisic feeds Werner, dashing in from the right. The German faces up to Varane and then lets fly from the edge of the area ... with a poor effort, skewing it well wide of the near post.
41 min: The rain is really lashing down now, and players are starting to lose their footing occasionally. Might be worth drilling in a few skiddy low shots from distance.
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39 min: Pulisic booked for tripping Marcelo from behind to stop a counter-attack.
37 min: Silva’s feeling lucky. He has a ping from long range. It’s deflected out for another Chelsea corner.
34 min: Kanté bursts through midfield again and slips the ball wide to Pulisic. The American’s first cross from the left is blocked but he gets another go and sends over a better delivery that is ... fractionally too high for Werner, who can only glance it the wrong way from eight yards out.
32 min: Courtois steps out to catch a Chelsea corner and then hurls the ball out to Vinicius to lead a counter-attack down the left. Kross eventually joins in and curls a decent effort a yard or so wide from 20 yards.
GOAL! Real 1-1 Chelsea (Benzema 29)
That’s wonderful forward play by Benzema! Real pulled a corner from the left out to Marcelo, who clipped it beyond the far post. Casemiro headed back across goal and Militao flicked it on a little further. Then Benzema, about six yards out, used his head to tee himself up for a superb volley on the swivel, and he thrashed the ball into the net!
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28 min: Carvajal blocks a cross by Chilwell after Chelsea tear forward again. It’s amazing how often they’re streaming through Real.
27 min: Azplicueta miscontrols the ball and Vinicius slides in to poke it away but catches the Spaniard on the follow-through. That’s a harsh booking for the striker.
25 min: Chelsea again expose huge holes in the ramshackle Real defence. Kanté romps free down the right and has time to pick out Pulisic in the middle of the box. He’s quickly surrounded by plays it wide to Chilwell, who rather scuffs a right-footed shot, leaving Courtois with a simple save. But Chelsea can be confident of scoring again if they - and Real - continue like this.
23 min: Benzema, barely involved so far, picks up the ball about 25 yards out and unloads a ferocious shot with his left foot that flies past Mendy and clips the outside of the post. From out of nowhere he almost plundered an equaliser!
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22 min: Chelsea monopolise possession for about two minutes, zipping it about with impressive precision. Real can’t get so much as a toe to the ball. The visitors play their way up to the home box, but Pulisic then overhits an attempted pass to Werner.
20 min: Slightly better from Real. They spend a minute probing in Chelsea’s half, popping the ball around quickly. But Chelsea are closing down the opening equally fast. When Kroos tries to clip a pass into the box, Kante gets a nick on it, sending it harmlessly into Mendy’s arms.
18 min: Zidane may already be thinking about changing system. The defence looks wonky in a back three, with Chelsea continually finding gaps. And Modric and Kroos have seen little of the ball in midfield.
16 min: Chelsea continue to attack and Real are pestered into conceding a corner. Chilwell’s delivery is nutted away by Varane.
GOAL! Real 0-1 Chelsea (Pulisic 14)
Simple but deadly! Rüdiger lifted a canny ball from half-way over the top for Pulisic to chase. The American darted between two defenders to retrieve it 10 yards out, and a little to the left. He drew Courtois out and then tricked his way past him and fired past a man on the line and into the net. Chelsea started the better and have the lead they deserve !
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12 min: Another sweeping move by Chelsea. This time they switched the play quickly from right to left and Chilwell’s cross was cleared in extremis at the expense of a corner. Nacho heads it clear.
10 min: Pulisic nods the ball intelligently across the face of goal after a deflected shot from the left drifts over to him. Werner tries to tuck it in from six yards ... but Courtois reacts brilliantly to deny him! It’s a terrific save with his feet but, on the flip side, it’s another entry on Werner’s list of bad misses for Chelsea. he should have buried that.
8 min: Vinicus invites Benzema to send him through with a one-two but the Frenchman slightly overhits the return pass, forcing the striker wide on the left. Then, lke Chilwell moments ago, he ends up going backwards as opportunities are closed down swiftly.
7 min: Chelsea are showing plenty of ambition; they’re certainly not just trying to hold off their hosts and attack on the break.
5 min: Werner and Pulisic combine nimbly to break through midfield and bear down on the Real box. But the hosts scramble back quickly and force Pulisic wide to the right. He clips the ball over to Chilwell coming in on the far side but there’s no room for him to get off either shot or cross, so Chelsea wind up going backwards.
4 min: Real knock the ball around between themselves, probing for a chance to dart forward. But as soon as they try to infiltrate the Chelsea third, they’re dispossessed.
3 min: It’s been pretty scrappy so far, with neither side able to piece together much of a move, largely because of the intensity of the pressing from the other.
1 min: Real get the semi-final going. Chelsea immediately start pressing them, forcing the hosts to work their way back to Courtois. But then Real play it back out again.
The teams are on the pitch, lining up for the Champions League advertising jingle. No contrived colour clash here: Real are dressed all in white, Chelsea are in blue.
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The teams are in the tunnel of Real’s dinky little training ground. The Real players are all slapping hands and a cuddling each other. Chelsea’s Brazilian players, Jorginho and Thiago Silva, trot over for a friendly clasp with their compatriots, Marcelo ad Vinicus Junior.
Tuchel speaks
“I don’t think we need a miracle or an over-performance. We ‘just’ need our top level and then I’m sure we can compete with Real for the final spot. We want to play with hunger and enthusiasm and impose our style of play, our intensity and our quality.”
Asked why he stuck with the same starting lineup that began against West Ham last weekend, he says: “We were just happy. It was a close one to leave Hakim out. Kai can always play because he has top quality. It’s down to little things. Sometimes it’s just a feeling.”
“I see that Real Madrid’s diminutive Belgian playmaker has dressed and reported to work, only to be left out of the squad,” notes Peter Oh. “Will he still receive Hazard pay?”
So Sergio Ramos isn’t fit enough to even make the bench for Real, and Eden Hazard hasn’t been given a chance to face his former team from the start. In midfield, Kanté and Jorginho have a heck of their job on their hands trying to subdue Toni Kroos, Casemiro and Luka Modric, while the duelling between the sides’ respective wingbacks will be critical.
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Teams:
Real Madrid: Courtois; Militao, Varane, Nacho; Carvajal, Modric, Casemiro, Kroos, Marcelo; Benzema, Vinicius Junior
Subs: Lunin, Altube, Asensio, Odriozola, Isco, Diaz, Rodrygo, Arribas, Blanco, Gutierrez
Chelsea:Mendy; Christensen, Silva, Rüdiger; Azpilicueta, Kanté, Jorginho, Chilwell; Pulisic, Werner, Mount
Subs: Kepa, Caballero, Alonso, Abraham, Zouma, Giroud, Hudson-Odio, Ziyech, Gilmour, James, Havertz, Emerson
Referee: D Makkelie (Ned)
Venue: Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to the first-leg of a fascinating semi-final. Three months ago no one would have fancied Chelsea’s chances of making it this far. Least of all Roman Abramovich, which is why he jilted Frank Lampard and cosied up to Tomas Tuchel. That decision has been vindicated by the evidence so far. Chelsea have improved in the Premier League, ground their way into the final of the FA Cup and now stand within two matches of reaching the Champions League final for the first time since Didier Drogba did Bayern back in 2012. In front of them is none other than the competition’s most decorated specialists, Real Madrid, who’ve been European champions as many times as all English clubs combined.
Tuchel has unquestionably made Chelsea smarter and more solid – they haven’t conceded so much as a goal in 16 of his 21 matches in charge – but their improvement is set to be put to a most stringent test today.
Chelsea’s first challenge will be to defend much better than Liverpool managed to do when they visited Madrid in the quarter-final. That shouldn’t be too hard. The really tricky bit will be finding a way to shut down Toni Kroos & Co while also carrying a threat at the other end, where an away goal or two could prove vital. And if they create chances, they must convert them, another thing Liverpool failed to do. This, then, would be a fine time for Timo Werner, for instance, to really ignite his Chelsea career. That may mean having to get the better of Sergio Ramos, who could be available for action today after missing the last month with a muscle injury. We await the team news with interest ...
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